Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-06-08
CONCERNING THE SHAKERS.
Some Information Given, Also, About
Elder F. w. Evans.


Especial Correspondence
NEW YORK, JuIe !.
Among the men Of note and Importance who
occasionally drop into this city froln not
distant neighborhood, Elder F. w. Evans,
the head of the Shaker fraternity, deserves
mention. He has just been spending few
DAYS here; and for a man OF 70 years, he is
remarkably vigorous and healthy. II you
converse long with him you will not only see
that he is a born leader, but a man of the
shrewdest business perceptions The Shaker
fraternity, he says, is now over 100 years
old, and his connection with it dates back
ward sixty seven years. The doctrine which
was formulated by Ann Lee has not stood
still altogether. Under the influence Of Elder
Evans it has become somewhat hberalized.
The canon Of revelation is more elastic with
the Shakers now than it ever was They
think they have received new light since the
days OF their founders, and that, as time goes
ON, still other new revelations may be ex-
pectsd
Certain cardinal principles Of course re-
main. Their most distinct one is the duality
Of the godhead. wheh implies parental
compound, 50 to speak-an eternal mother as
well as an eternal father. Their doctrine Of
ceRhacy is, of course, prominent, and most
tenaciouSsy held Many Of the tsnsss of the
Quakers are also theirs. Their opposition to
marriage is rather a REIMBURSEMENT, for the
sake of entering a higher cycle Of spiritual
experience than the world at large can hope
TO attain. But, in its order, they do not con-
slider marriage wrong. Much Of the imagery
which the Shakers employ in reference to
cycles and first, second, third and fourth
heavens is quite in affinity with the
Swedenborgians. In fact, Ann Lee used to
say that "Swedenborg is really John the
Baptist"
On two or three occasions recently, while
Elder Evans has been tarrying in the city, l
have had extended talks with him. Some of
the incidents Of his life, as he tells them, are
exceedingly interesting. He was born in
England and came to this country with Robert
Owen. Both he and Owen were then firm ma
terialists and skeptical in reference to any
revelation whatever But they were human
itarans and were interested in communism
In spite OF Owens good intentions, for he
was a man Of benevolent and humane in
Stincts, the scheme at New Harmony fell
through. 1t could not be made to work
Evans discovered that the Zoarites
and the Rappites had no better success AS
the Shakers were the one body that did sue
coed, he went to their head center III New
Lebanon to find out their secret. While there
he was the subject Of spiritual revelations
The spirits came to him repeatedly, and con-
victed him of the errors of materialism; and
under these illuminations he became con.
WINGED also of the benefits of a celibate life,
and saw that the Shakers had truths W hich
We're far in advance of our worldly creeds AS
a necessary result he joined them. AS spirit
ualists, the Shakers claim to be pioneers, but
they do not seek spirits or spiritual intercourse
except as these things are forced upon them.
A too frequent or solicitous resort to spirits
they consider wrong. Elder Evans makes
no reference to the fact that by weight of
character and thorough saturation with their
principles, lie has riseu to be their head, but
such is the fact. OF course this does not
mean that he is a hielarch, because the Sha-
kers believe i'll equality, but it means that
natural selection has brought him rightfully
t. the front.
He says the body in fifty years has under
gone reformaUory changes. Formerly 1T used
as society outside more generally did once
alcoholic liquors. Now they do not touch
them They do not use tobacco either, nor
eat pork. He thinks they are OH the way to
become vegetarians eventually. They were
always Abolitionists, and among the earliest
of this once derided class. Now they are Pro-
hibitionists and woman suffragists, and believe
in land reform in the direction in which
Henry George is leading Large land owners
themselves, they do not intend to have their
own possessions prevent their adherence to,
and acquiescence in, what they consider q
grand reformatory truth.
They do not, however, vote; nor are they
called to jury duty. The authorities habi:u-
ally exempt them from jury service. They
pay their taxes faithfully and do not refuse to
serve as witnesses when called upon. 1t would
be readily acknowledged by their neighbors
that in the conduct and virtues of life they
rank high. Like the Quakers they are op-
posed to war, and are non-resistants.
Once, the elder says, they seemed in danger
Of becoming simply great eleemosynary in
stitution. He always strongly objected to
this tendency; and for years they have been
wedding out, or screening out, those who come
to them simply for the loaves and fishes.
They consider this the main reason their
numbers have fallen off in fifteen years; but
they also think that their doctrines have fl
tered out into the world and are really being
substantially acted upon by many This adhe-
sion they even prefer to proselytes taken into
their direct fold. There were once eighteen
societies in the United States, and there are
York, four in Massachusetts,, two in Connect
icut, two in Kentucky, two in Ohio, two in
New Hampshire, and one in Maine.
Elder Evans says that the community prin-
ciple cannot exist with marriage-for this
produces too strong a centrifugal element
He constantly receives letters and applica- |
tons from those who want to join the fra
ternity, but no one is received without a |
thorough examination, and no one is urged |
to Join. If person wishes to join and seems |
sincere, he is brought before the court of his
own conscience and rigidly questioned.
II ne has ever wronged any one
ne must confess the error and do
restitution. If he owes any debts
he must first pay them. The head of com
mission once sent down from Albany by the
legislature to inquire into the method by
which the Shakers received the worlds chill
dren for adoption said, at the end of the talk.
on testing them morally, that he wished the
whole OF Albany, including the complainants
VINO sent him to New Lebanon, We're Shakers.
The method of adopting children, however.
has been modified Of their own motion. Tbev
do not now seek any who are not old enough
70 nave some mind Of their own. TbGss
under IL are not, as a rule, desired. and are
not taken except when refusal might seno-
uN